Gareth Bale won the Champions League in his first season at Real Madrid (Picture: PA)

The summer of 2013 will be remembered as disastrous for Manchester United, Ed Woodward and David Moyes.

While the former Everton manager was never going to be good enough to lead United to long-term success, he might have kept his job for a bit longer had Woodward done his job properly.

Marouane Fellaini was the only signing, coming in at the last minute, for £5 million more than his buyout clause which was allowed to expire earlier in the summer.

However, while never confirmed publicly by anyone at the club, as you would expect, Woodward believed he was going to have a dream start to life in his new senior role at United.

Woodward had managed to negotiate a deal with Tottenham Hotspur which would see Gareth Bale join United.

Spurs wanted to sell him abroad, ideally, but with Real Madrid not putting their money where their mouth was, the north London club accepted an offer from United. This, of course, only put pressure on the Spaniards to put their own bid in, much to the relief of Spurs and delight of Bale. The player was open to a move to United, but his clear preference was Real Madrid, so everyone was happy.

Well, apart from United, Woodward and Moyes, who had to make do with Fellaini instead of Bale. After spending all summer saying no player was out of the club’s limits, bragging about the stars United could sign, Woodward had been planning on being able to say ‘I told you so!’ when the transfer window closed. Instead, he had United fans calling for his job and a squad which was only able to finish seventh under Moyes’ leadership.

Bale enjoyed a good first season in La Liga and showed that he hadn’t just been a big fish in a small pond at Spurs. He scored over 20 goals, including the one that essentially won Real Madrid their 10th European Cup and the winner in the Copa del Rey final against Barcelona.

This season, he has seven goals in 12 games in the league, 11 in 22 in all competitions, including one in Real Madrid’s 2-0 win over San Lorenzo in the FIFA World Club Cup final this week.

Gareth Bale scores at Old Trafford before his move to Real Madrid (Picture: AP)

It’s unusual then, given how well Bale is doing for the club and how happy you would presume he is, that he is now being linked with a move to United. Real Madrid would not only be selling him, but letting him leave at a loss on £85 million they forked out for him two years earlier.

Bale is five years younger than Cristiano Ronaldo and, at 25, still has the best football of his career ahead of him.

Journalists have been briefed by Woodward that the club is prepared to splash the cash like never before though in order to create a side that is able to compete with Chelsea and Manchester City.

The appeal of moving back to England will obviously be there for Bale and his family. He will never be the main man there, with Ronaldo stealing the limelight for now and James Rodriguez already replacing Bale as the youngest and latest star to join the club.

However, while anything is possible in football, you would probably bet against Bale giving up on his dream move so early on, and imagine he will wait until he has a few more medals in his collection before moving on.